A challenge to all of you

So... I am writing this from Mbarara where I am spending time with the AIM team here. (They are pretty awesome) And Ruth (the house help of the team leader) is AMAZING!!! Ruth is an AWESOME baker and cook. She is slowly starting her own bakery business selling cakes, bagels, and other baked goods. I am so excited... I have not had a bagel in 4 months! I am buying tortillas and bagels to bring home. Not that you all care, but I am so excited!!! You cannot buy those things here! I will post more about my time in Mbarara next week since I do not have my camera cord to upload pictures from here. I do apologize for the lack of photos in this post!!! I know reading is not so much fun!

What God has been teaching me:
Three years or so ago, Park Church in Chicago challenged their congregation to pray for one person, one neighborhood in Chicago and one disparity in the city. God laid on my heart to pray for a friend of mine in PT school. I daily prayed for her, and God slowly opened up doors to grow our friendship and eventually invite her to church. This girl today is one of my absolute closest friends, she is daily growing in her relationship with the Lord, she is active in her church, and truthfully she is challenging me in my faith. I am so thankful to see how God is working in her and for the opportunity to see how God can work when we are open to his leading.

My life here really isn't that different from home. Basically, I am just working and doing life with Ugandans instead of working and doing life with Americans. (With many cultural changes too) And here I have been challenged with a similar challenge to Park's 3 years ago. When I first arrived here, I was talking with a retired missionary couple who challenged me and a couple other short-termers to focus on pouring into the lives of 3 people. He said, otherwise you will get overwhelmed and not feel like you did anything in your time here. It has taken me 3 months of praying to figure out who those three people are. And I am very excited to see how God will work over the next 9 months.

Here is where I challenge all of you. One thing God has really laid on my heart is that it doesn't matter where we live, but our purpose there is to build relationships with those around us in order that we may share Christ's love with them every day. I challenge each of you to ask God who to pray for and pray for them faithfully as I pray for my 3 people here for the next 9 months. And when we meet again in 9 months, we can share how we saw God work. I do want to say, please do not be discouraged, I know a women who prayed for her husband for 19 years before he came to know Christ; however, I am very excited to see how God will work over the next 9 months!!!!

Please let me know if you accept my challenge, so we can pray for one another and hold one another accountable.

I cannot leave you without a picture of one of my sweet kids - Ronald :)